Senators Demand A Say 

Congratulations! The Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday voted 19-to-0 to approve legislation requiring a vote on any deal with Iran. The bi-partisan, unanimous vote was a strong rebuke to President Barack Obama. 

Just before the vote, the White House dramatically shifted its tone. Obama had repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation that infringed on his authority to unilaterally negotiate foreign agreements. But once Obama realized he was facing sure defeat, he agreed yesterday to sign the bill. 

You contributed to this short-term victory. Christians United for Israel directed 80,000 emails to Capitol Hill. Its lobbying arm, Christians United for Israel Action, poured in phone calls and has worked non-stop in recent weeks with a broad coalition. 

But don't celebrate quite yet. We won this round, but the battle goes on. The Corker-Menendez bill does not stop Obama from cutting a deal with Tehran. It merely guarantees Congress' right to review and vote on the final deal. Amazingly, Obama wanted to deny your elected representatives the ability to do even that. 

Other hurdles remain. For example, if Congress determines that, as expected, it is a bad deal, a resolution of disapproval could still be filibustered in the Senate. If passed by Congress, Obama could veto the resolution and it would take 67 senators out of 100 to override him. 

Whatever happens in Congress, this much is certain: The Iranian regime that has American blood on its hands, that is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, that has vowed to wipe Israel off the map and that chants "Death to America" and calls us the "great Satan," cannot be trusted. No deal with the tyrants of Tehran is worth the paper it is written on. 

A Taxing Day 

It's April 15th, a day many Americans dread -- Tax Day. Here's a great idea that would draw more attention to how much of your hard-earned money the federal government takes and wastes -- move tax filing day to the first week of November just before Americans vote! 

In recognition of the day, I want to share these tax facts with you:
 

• According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 20% of income earners pay 84% of all income taxes collected.
   
• The top 1% of earners, about 3 million people, pay nearly 46% of all income taxes collected.
   
• Last year, the federal government received record tax revenues of just over $3 trillion dollars. But it still ran a deficit of nearly $500 billion. 
   
• The federal tax code is nearly 75,000 pages long. In the past ten years, it increased by nearly 15,000 pages. Obamacare alone added more than 3,000 pages to the tax code. 

  Never Again 

  As the Obama Administration negotiates with Iran, whose leaders deny the first Holocaust took place while they promise a second holocaust, it is worth noting that ceremonies begin this evening throughout Israel commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

  Tonight, Israeli leaders and Holocaust survivors will gather at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Tomorrow morning at 10:00 am, sirens will wail across Israel. The entire state will stop for two minutes to remember the horror of six million Jews systematically murdered and to remember the world's promise of "Never Again." 

  It is a promise we need to remember. Anti-Semitic attacks worldwide skyrocketed last year. 

  In addition, we know that attacks on Christians throughout the Middle East and Africa are also at record levels. Israel and America are the pillars of Judeo-Christian civilization, which the radicals in the Islamic State and the Islamic Republic of Iran have vowed to destroy. America desperately needs leadership that will stand up against anti-Semitism and Christian persecution and that is determined to defeat the evil of radical Islam.